Stone to wall adhesive

EssexBreeze · Post by **EssexBreeze** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 12:16 am

Hi,
I have bought some marble tiles for my bathroom wall. They are 30cm by 30cm and 10mm thick. What adhesive should I use to fix these to the wall.
I was thinking of buying BAL natural stone adhesive but they are 55 quid each bag!!!!! Any suggestions for cheap but decent stuff will be appreciated.
Cheers

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:51 am

What colour is the marble and what are the walls made from that you are fixing them to?

jozeffo · Post by **jozeffo** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 11:57 am

If you live near any major stockist (topps) etc, they will have something suitable for alot less than £ 55. Expect to pay about half that.

manchestertiling · Post by **manchestertiling** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:37 pm

If black marble use a grey flexible cementious powder adhesive & if they're cream or white use a white flexible cementious powder adhesive, due to marble being highly porous & will bleed through the stone.

Use a solid bed trowel achieving full coverage on the back of the stone, if it does bleed then it will discolour the whole tile & not just a part of it which does give a better look than a part stained tile.

Lots of different manufacturers make a marble/stone specific adhesive such as norcros mosaic & marble fix or BAL do a similar version, whichever you get, use a quality brand

manchestertiling · Post by **manchestertiling** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:20 pm

dont forget to prep your walls too & bearing in mind you have marble use the guidelines for safe weight of tiles onto plaster walls & plasterboard

20kg/sqm onto plaster
32kg/sqm onto plasterboard

allow 2-4kg/sqm for adhesive & grout too which should be included in the above weights

handyman · Post by **handyman** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:53 pm

jozeffo wrote:If you live near any major stockist (topps) etc, they will have something suitable for alot less than £ 55. Expect to pay about half that.

£55 is about the right price in topp tiles if you dont get any discount. All you normally need to do is say I dont mind paying a bit more than trade, but not 100% more. Normally when they know you know the 'correct' price, then its a bit better..............or, of course, have a trade card.

manchestertiling · Post by **manchestertiling** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 12:23 am

I'd suggest driving right past Topps & go to your nearest independant tile shop IMO.

They charge extremely over inflated prices with huge mark ups & you will probably get a better deal from a local independant. Do a price check on both, see who will do the best deal.